Jordan's First Week at Intel

Jordan started work on Monday! It was orientation for the first three days, so he didn't have to go in until 9:00. This gave us some time to build pillow towers on top of each other. 

Logan thought this was the GREATEST game.

Jordan was nice enough to pose for a "First day of work" picture for me! He's so very handsome and I'm very proud of him for the work he's done to get where he is today.

When Jordan was at work, Logan and I worked hard to make Jordan a "Happy First Day at Work" cake. Logan just loooooves to help in the kitchen, especially when it's cake! I caught him sneaking blue icing out of my piping bag when I wasn't looking!

I did a buttercream transfer for the first time ever. Basically you print out a reversed image of the picture you want to copy. Then you trace it really thick with your frosting on wax paper. Then you stick it in your freezer and after 15 minutes, put it on your cake and peel the wax paper off the top. See? Super easy. 

But the first time I did it, I didn't realize how small our freezer is vs. how big my cookie sheets are. So I shoved it in there and some frozen tortillas fell on top of it and smashed it. I was really sad and Logan was really sad for me! So he took my hand and took me over to the show he was watching (PJ Masks) and said, "Mom, will this make you happy?" It was so cute! And then later when I had done it over he was so thrilled. He kept saying, "Mom, you fixed it!!"

Jordan was really impressed when he got home as well. And it was very delicious!

Now that Jordan's at work, Logan and I have to entertain ourselves. Tuesday we went to the library, which was okay. Not nearly as cute as the Springville library, but there are a couple others around that we'll have to try out.

On Wednesday we went to a playgroup at the home of someone in the ward. She has a super nice pool, and Logan had a great time playing with the toys and floating around on one of the floaties. It was really nice to have a couple hours to get to talk with some of the women in my ward. 

Thursday Logan and I went on a little outing to Michaels because I wanted to get some craft supplies for a sign I wanted for Parker's side of the room. It was right by a PetsMart, so we had fun going in and looking at the fish, and the birds, and the cats for adoption, and the dogs getting groomed. Afterwards we were pretty hungry so we went to Chick fil a to get some lunch. I love having my buddy with me all day!

Logan always trades his kids meal surprise in for ice cream. And he always offers to share with me, which is so nice!

He had a great time playing in their playplace as well.

That afternoon, I had my first appointment with my new doctor. Logan was so nice and well behaved the whole time we were at the office, even while I was filling out all the new patient paperwork. As soon as we came in the room, Logan pointed tot he ultrasound screen and said, "Look! That's where we see baby Parker!" I was really surprised he remember that, because the only time he's come with me and they've done an ultrasound was when we found out the gender at the end of January. 

Anyway. The doctor was fine. I'm not super thrilled with him but at this point I will *probably* not be switching doctors. 

On Friday my ward had another playgroup (how cute is my ward?) at a park and splash pad and Bonnie was there with two of her grandkids, Ruby and Noah. Logan and Noah played for a while together in the sand and Logan even shared a tractor with him, which is a pretty big deal. I'm not sure how Noah and Logan are related, but we're just going to go with cousins. He's been talking about Noah ever since and asking when he can play. We'll have to get them together again soon!

When we left, Logan kept saying, "No get to play too much!" which is translated into, "I didn't get to play enough!" This was after almost two hours of playing. That kid just LOVES having friends to play with.

That night we all went out to dinner at Joe's Farm Grill, which was featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. Here's Logan studying the menu. The food was very okay. I didn't think it was amazing, although several people had recommended it to us. Maybe our expectations were just too high? Who knows!

And that was our first "real" week in Arizona! It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I'm meeting people quickly. Everyone in our ward is so nice and friendly. This week will probably not be nearly as fun, since starting tomorrow I'm attempting to potty train Logan and will have to stay home for several days. Wish us luck!

MBA Recruiting Season

I remember when I used to think getting a job meant applying. Getting a call for an interview. Interviewing. They liked you. They called you. You got a job.

Now my idea of interviewing includes company info sessions. Researching companies. Networking with people already in companies. Going to job conferences out of state. Applying for jobs. Getting an interview. Networking with more people at said company. Researching companies to discover what key words they expect you to use in an interview. Interviewing over the phone. Waiting. Interviewing in person (usually in another state). Asking questions about companies that you already knew the answers to. Waiting. Hearing back. 

It's all a lot of hard work and I could honestly never do it. I mean, have you met me? Have I ever voluntarily called someone? Especially someone I randomly found on LinkedIn because they got an MBA at BYU 5 years ago and are now working at Whirlpool/Intel/AT&T? I would never do that! Let's face it, if something happened to Jordan, I would end up working at McDonalds.

For the last month (well longer than that, but insane in October), Jordan has been working like crazy to get some good job offers. He'd contacted dozens of people about talking about his target companies. For the past month, he's had about three calls with people per week, and the last couple weeks its probably been more. He asked people who worked at these companies to pretend to interview him and then they would review his answers.

AT&T wanted to fly him out for his interview on November 5&6, but instead of a typical interview, they wanted him to come prepared with a presentation about a strategy he had for AT&T (I can't remember the prompt but it was super broad). He worked until midnight for the last two weeks trying to prepare that while also going to Michigan for Whirlpool (October 29&30) and his interview with Intel (November 4). He finished his presentation super late after getting home from his Intel interview, presented it to me twice (I thought it was really good!), and then left the next morning for his interview with AT&T.

The whole past two weeks I've just been trying to smile, be super happy and cheerful, keep the house clean, and dinner on the table (even though he rarely made it for dinner, at least he could take it for leftovers the next day). I figured he didn't need a cranky wife to add to the stress of the interviews that will decide our lives for the next few years.

BUT IT'S ALL OVER NOW.

We made it! We survived. I'm incredibly proud of Jordan. He has received an offer from Intel and Whirlpool, and we're waiting to hear back from AT&T. Jordan is such a stud.

We're still not sure where we're going. Jordan's been talking about Intel for years. I remember sitting around our firepit in Georgia and him talking to me about how much he wants to work there. So I wouldn't be surprised if that's where we go. Honestly all of the offers we have are amazing opportunities. We could toss them all in a hat and draw one out and be super happy with where we went, I'm sure. 

November 14th is our deadline to make a choice. That's when our offer from Whirlpool expires, so we need to feel good about our choice before then. I'm so excited to start this new chapter of our lives...in 7 months. Also I'm so excited to have our normal lives back and to enjoy MBA life until graduation!